


better together

by rangerhitomi



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: M/M, Slight Misunderstandings, Valentine's Day, drunk proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:29:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23192443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rangerhitomi/pseuds/rangerhitomi
Summary: Aichi may have misunderstood what a drunk Kai was muttering about to himself in the shower. It gets cleared up in the end.
Relationships: Kai Toshiki/Sendou Aichi
Comments: 3
Kudos: 73





	better together

**Author's Note:**

> imagine it's still valentine's day and not a month later
> 
> sorry, i'm being quarantined because i'm high risk for the virus and i have bronchitis so i'm just going to keep writing drug induced bullshit, hope you're all ready

They’ve never spent a Valentine’s Day together, having been long-distance from school or preparing for the Vanguard spring qualifiers, but they finally have the chance to have a quiet dinner alone. They’re at a small place, a recommendation from Anjou Mamoru, with particularly good curry and a good assortment of wine. Kai had to make the reservation a few weeks before due to the restaurant’s popularity; with a charming ambiance and polite staff, Aichi can see why it’s such a sought-after date place. 

Kai heeds Anjou’s recommendation and gets the curry and a white Bordeaux, while Aichi orders the ginger pork and a beer; Aichi can’t help but tease Kai about his newfound preference for French wines. 

“At least you still recognize a good beer after spending four years in America instead of drinking that wheat water they try to pass off as alcohol,” Kai points out, smiling over his wine. 

“Not all American beer is bad,” Aichi says thoughtfully, tapping the pork with his chopsticks, “just the kinds they buy for college parties.” 

Kai laughs into his curry, in that reserved way Kai laughs. Aichi finds it endearing; there had once been a time in their lives where Kai barely smiled, let alone laughed, but he does it more freely now. When he smiles, it’s warm and comforting, if not still shy. 

Aichi wants to kiss him.

“Do I have something on my face?”

“Oh-- no, sorry.” Aichi smiles back at him. He was staring, huh? “Just thinking about how cute you are.”

Kai turns pink and busies himself by taking an extra-long sip of wine. It drains the rest of the glass, so Aichi leans over and refills it from the bottle. 

As the evening goes on, they talk about everything and nothing; Vanguard, Aichi’s work with the university astronomy department, cats, a time in Kai’s youth where Miwa sat in mud and didn’t know his pants were brown for the entire day, an English cooking show that Aichi thought Kai might like. 

As they talk, Kai drinks more wine, and his face gets redder with each glass. He’s drunk, Aichi realizes, something that doesn’t happen often considering he doesn’t drink much anyway and when he does it’s something light that he drinks to help him fall asleep. 

Aichi cuts Kai off before he can pour another glass. “Let’s pay and go home, Kai-kun. You look sleepy.”

Kai mumbles agreement and lets Aichi pull him to his feet. Aichi pays and they leave the restaurant, walking into heavy snowfall and the sound of cars crawling along the slushy streets. The snow immediately plasters itself to their hair, but Kai seems unbothered and Aichi doesn’t want to call a taxi to drive them such a short distance back to their apartment when Kai could probably do with a nice walk and the taxi would probably take longer than walking in this weather. 

Their feet make crunching sounds in the freshly fallen snow as they walk, Kai’s gait unsteady. Aichi reaches for his hand, which Kai takes without hesitation and grasps tightly, and smiles again. “Dinner was nice, Kai-kun.”

Kai nods slowly. “Yeah… the curry… had a good flavor…”

“That’s so you.” He nudges Kai playfully with his shoulder. 

“Mm.” Kai smiles faintly. There’s a distant look in his eyes, like he’s thinking of something else and is only partially grounded on Earth, or it could be that he’s drunk and unfocused. Or maybe it’s a combination of the two, and drunk Kai is really distracted about a very real problem—though what that problem might be, Aichi can’t guess.

Aichi lets Kai keep his thoughts to himself for the rest of the walk, and when they get home they’re both soaked and cold. Kai is shivering; Aichi offers to make tea while Kai takes a hot shower.

While the kettle heats the water, Aichi heads into their bedroom to change into some warm, dry night clothes. The shower is running, but Aichi hears his name, just loud enough over the water, and pauses.

“Will you… no… Aichi, can you… I want to… Would you? Please, would you please… no, no...”

He’s talking to himself, Aichi realizes, and he cracks the door open just a little. Steam hits him in the face. “Kai-kun, are you okay?”

There’s a muffled _ah_ and the unmistakable crash of Kai dropping the shampoo bottle on the floor of the tub (though, mercifully, avoiding landing on Kai’s foot). “Y-yeah, nothing’s wrong… almost done...”

Aichi frowns. “Okay. Well, when you’re done, the tea will be ready. I’ll bring it to you in our room, okay?”

“Yeah.” Kai’s voice is a bit strained.

“Okay.” Aichi closes the door, his frown deepening as he tries to parse the meaning of Kai’s incoherent drunken shower thoughts. It sounded as though Kai were trying to carry on an imaginary conversation with Aichi but didn’t like the phrasing of the question he was trying to ask; what was he trying to ask about that had him so embarrassed?

He picks two tea bags from the cupboard, a calming lemon tea for Kai and a stronger earthy one for himself, and lets them steep as he thinks. He barely hears Kai leave the bathroom and cross the hallway to their room.

_He wants to ask me to do something, and he’s embarrassed about it._ It can’t be something they do normally. It’s nothing to do with Vanguard, since Kai has never been embarrassed about doing anything Vanguard related with Aichi. Even the time he had asked Aichi to participate in a tag tournament as his partner he had been calm about.

_Unless…_

Their love life hadn’t been particularly exciting as of late. Neither of them had much time or energy, and this was fine for the both of them… or so Aichi thought. Maybe Kai was dissatisfied. Maybe he was trying to work up the courage to ask Aichi to do something with him, something they hadn’t done before, and was embarrassed about it. Not that Aichi would mind! He wanted to spend time with Kai, wanted to have that connection, wanted to feel that intimacy. Kai had never breached the subject of sex, it had always been Aichi, and now Kai wants to be the one to initiate it. Yes, this makes sense…

“You’ve been steeping these a little long.”

Aichi makes a squeaking noise, like a dog toy being stepped on, as Kai comes up behind him and rests one arm around Aichi’s waist as he reaches for his tea with the other hand.

“S-sorry, it’s okay, right?”

Kai takes a sip and tilts his head. His unfocused gaze lingers on the ceiling. “A little strong. It’s fine.”

“A-are you sure? I can make it again, there’s still some water in the—“

“It’s fine, I promise.” Kai keeps sipping the tea, leaving his hand on Aichi’s waist, a little tighter now.

He’s a tired, emotional drunk usually, but Aichi had almost forgotten that Kai got handsy when drunk, too.

They stand in the kitchen together, drinking their tea. Aichi’s is entirely too strong, he wants to add some milk and sugar, but Kai is warm and his hold on Aichi’s waist is comforting, so Aichi pushes through and drinks it as quickly as he can. Kai takes longer; he stares now at the counter, contemplative, and doesn’t say a word the entire time.

It’s an intimate moment in its own right, and Aichi cherishes it as he leans back into Kai.

When Kai finally places the cup on the counter, Aichi takes it and his own toward the sink. Kai’s arm slips from Aichi’s waist.

“Go on to bed, I’ll be there in a minute,” Aichi offers, and Kai nods.

By the time Aichi is finished cleaning up after their tea, brushing his teeth, and using the toilet, Kai is already asleep, facing the other side of the bed with enough room for Aichi to lay next to him.

Aichi sighs and takes up his spot on the bed.

“Good night, Kai-kun,” he whispers, and gets no response.

He’s starting to nod off when Kai rolls over without warning and wraps his arms around Aichi’s body. The sudden affection is unusual in itself, but it’s an anomaly when Kai starts crying into Aichi’s shoulder. 

“K-Kai-kun, are you okay?” 

“I’m sorry.”

“For-- Kai-kun, what’s wrong?”

“You’re so good to me…” 

Aichi wriggles under Kai’s weight and pulls them both up to a half-sitting position, Kai still hanging on Aichi’s chest. He grabs Kai’s wet face in both hands and Kai lowers his eyes in response. It isn’t unusual for Kai to be shy around him, even now, but this was too similar to the early days of their relationship, when Kai still doubted he deserved to be loved. “ _What is wrong?”_

“I love you a lot.” Kai fidgets with the hem of Aichi’s shirt. “You know?”

“Yeah.” Aichi brushes his fingers through Kai’s hair as Kai shifts to a full sitting position. His heart stutters. “Are you… are you still drunk?”

“Probably,” Kai mumbles, rubbing his eyes. Aichi can’t see too well in the dark, but he’s sure Kai’s eyes are unfocused and bloodshot. “I wanted… to ask…”

Aichi joins Kai in sitting and wraps his arm around Kai’s waist until he’s practically sitting on Kai’s lap while he continues to thread the fingers of his other hand through Kai’s hair. He’s quite tired and would very much like to go back to sleep, but Kai is more important. He’s _always_ been more important. 

“If I love you too?” 

“Mm.” Kai buries his face in the crook of Aichi’s neck. “That’s just one…”

“Of course I love you. I’ve told you that before, right? You’re my most important person.” 

From his grade school days, when he first met Kai, Aichi had loved him, though it wasn’t until high school where he recognized his feelings for what they were, and not simply as admiration or even a silly puppy crush. But Kai surely couldn’t feel the same, so Aichi kept it to himself for as long as he could bear it. 

_A gentle reminder, maybe._ “Remember when I told you I loved you the first time?” 

“Yeah.”

“You cried then, too.”

“You cried first.”

Aichi laughs weakly as he plants a kiss in Kai’s hair. “I was so happy.”

“Me too.” Kai looks down at his hands, clenched tightly together. “I just didn’t think…”

_I don’t think I deserve you._

“We’ve talked about this,” Aichi whispers, heart sinking. “What you did in the past doesn’t matter to me now. When I… when I left, you went through hell to bring me back. No one else…” 

“I never told anyone this,” Kai whispers back, “but when you were gone, every night I thought about you. About how I couldn’t… what if I couldn’t bring you back? What if I couldn’t find you… I held that image of you there, by my side, like you’d promised…”

Tears burn at the corners of Aichi’s eyes. “Oh, Kai-kun, I…”

“It was the only thing that kept me going, some days. Thinking about you… being with you. I wanted it. I wanted it so much… I was afraid to wake up, because I knew when I opened my eyes, you wouldn’t be there.”

Aichi squeezes Kai close to his body, his own tears slipping out and landing in Kai’s hair. He had known that his decision to leave would hurt, but this much… 

“I’m so sorry, Kai-kun… I’m so…”

Kai cuts him off. “Hey Aichi?”

“Eh?”

“Aichi, let’s get married.”

Too many emotions have gone through Aichi’s mind in the past few minutes, so Kai’s sudden proposition doesn’t process correctly at first.

_Will you… can you… I’d like… would you please…_

Kai’s vocal shower thoughts make sense now.

“You, what?”

Kai pulls away and shuffles back on his hands and knees until they’re facing each other in the dimness. “Please… marry me.”

“What?” is the only word his racing mind can come up with.

“I, I really...” Kai’s eyebrows crease as he bites his lower lip. “I really love you… there’s no one else in the entire world I…” He looks down at the bed, body hunched over, and it is perhaps this sight of Kai’s deference, his fear over this entire situation unraveling at the seams, that causes Aichi to react properly.

“Oh Kai-kun...” He takes Kai’s face in his hands and kisses him, fully, deeply, letting Kai’s rigid body relax into his and wrap his arms around Aichi as they finally part for air. “Yes, I will.”

The worry on Kai’s face melts away, relief taking its place. “Really?” He lets Aichi shift to straddle his lap. Aichi doesn’t let go of Kai’s face as Kai’s hands find Aichi’s waist once more.

“Of course.” Aichi laughs breathlessly. “Of _course._ Who else but you, Kai-kun?”

Kai smiles. “You’re crying again.”

Aichi hadn’t noticed, this time. He drags his sleeve across his face and laughs. “It’s because I’m… so happy...”

“Me too. I’m...” Kai leans his head forward into Aichi’s chest.

“Tired?” Aichi wraps his arms around Kai’s shoulders and runs his fingers through Kai’s hair.

“Mm.”

“Come on, let’s lay down...”

Aichi guides Kai back to their pillows; this time, they lie close to one another, foreheads touching. Nothing could be more perfect, Aichi thinks as he touches Kai’s cheek.

“Aichi?”

“Yes, Kai-kun?”

“Are you going to call me Kai-kun when we’re married?”

“Until the day we both die.”

Kai makes a noise that might be a laugh. “I was thinking, we should have a small ceremony… you know, close friends and… your family. A reception for everyone else.”

This sounds reasonable, so Aichi nods.

“And maybe, it could be at the end of the summer? After the summer circuit, I mean.”

“Around your birthday?”

“Mm.” It’s clear from Kai’s somewhat grumbled affirmation that this hadn’t occurred to him. “I guess. I just don’t want to spend the whole circuit fighting someone with the commentary revolving solely on my love life instead of _how I’m playing_.”

Aichi giggles and bumps their noses together. “How will the media respond when they find out?” He adopts an exaggerated lower voice. “ _Pro Fighter Kai Toshiki marries University of Tokyo researcher in secret summer wedding._ ”

“Ha?” Kai rolls over on top of Aichi, pressing his face into Aichi’s chest again. They shift around until they find a comfortable position for the both of them. “The press loves to ask me about you. I’ve told you. _What’s Sendou Aichi up to these days? Why didn’t he go pro with you? Why did he decide to study science instead of play Vanguard?_ Bunch of leeches.”

Aichi snorts with laughter.

“I’m serious.” Kai looks up at him. “If anything, the headlines will be _Former Asia Circuit Champion Sendou Aichi marries former Team Q4 teammate Kai Toshiki._ They’ll eat it up.”

The thought of having his entire relationship with Kai overanalyzed by the press gives Aichi a sudden twinge of anxiety.

“Let’s not worry about it now,” Kai adds, correctly identifying Aichi’s tenseness. He leans up and gives Aichi a brief kiss. “It’s only February. We have time.”

“Yeah.” Something else nags at the back of Aichi’s mind, something that was a result of a misunderstanding on his part but that he feels is important to get out in the open now, while Kai is still not completely sober and may forget about it by morning. “Um, earlier, I heard you in the shower...”

“Oh.” Kai sounds a little alarmed.

“Mm, I thought, at first, that you… were trying to work up the courage to ask me to...”

Kai is oddly still.

“You know,” Aichi says, feeling a little too flustered to finish, “you know.”

Kai remains silent.

“I mean, it’s not like we haven’t, but you’ve never asked first, so, I, you know, Kai-kun?”

“Do you want to?” Kai’s voice is almost inaudible.

“R-right now?”

“You brought it up!”

“I thought you wanted to!”

“That wasn’t my intent earlier but, but now, y-yes!”

And, without another word, the shy Kai Toshiki takes his new fiancé in his arms and kisses him, deeply and passionately, as fingers trail along spines and into hair and under clothes, until the clothes are no longer a barrier—

“Kai-kun,” Aichi breathes, running his hands down Kai’s chest.

“Aichi,” Kai breathes back, fingers digging into Aichi’s hips, and as they make love for the first time as an engaged couple, Aichi knows that being Kai Toshiki’s husband, and having Kai Toshiki as a husband, is the greatest image of the future he could ever have.   
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> "If you're just joining us, welcome back to the quarterfinals of the Vanguard Euro Team League championship!"
> 
> Nitta Shin tossed the television remote on a table and went back to sweeping, humming to himself all the while. 
> 
> "--and his opponent, from Japan, Kai Toshiki!"
> 
> Shin looked up in anticipation. He had missed the top sixteen of the tournament because Misaki had forced him to close the shop and go to sleep, but he wasn't about to miss the quarterfinals. 
> 
> "Of particular note about Kai is the engagement ring he now wears on his finger."
> 
> Shin froze as the camera zoomed in on Kai's hand, clenching his opening five cards, a thin silver band glistening from his ring finger. The broom fell from Shin's hands and clattered to the floor. 
> 
> "Kai chooses not to take a mulligan. His opponent, Dietrich Schultz of Germany, will return two."
> 
> Engagement ring?
> 
> "There was some speculation in the Top Sixteen that Kai's new fiancé was teammate Olivier Gaillard, a rumor that Gaillard immediately shot down by laughing for five straight minutes, but the new speculation is that Kai Toshiki's soon to be husband is none other than former Asia Champion and Team Q4 teammate-"
> 
> "No," Shin said out loud.
> 
> The television turned off. Misaki shoved the broom he had dropped back into his hand. He hadn't heard her come in.
> 
> "It's Aichi," she said curtly, "now get back to work."


End file.
